News

Good things do not last forever and Wimberley has lost one of its icons. On December 30, Miss Mae’s Bar Be-Que closed its doors for the last time and said goodbye to Daily Specials and their sliced beef, sausage, chopped beef, chicken, turkey, pork loin or pulled pork. Many will miss the restaurant and its offerings.

Miss Mae’s was the brainchild of Steve Dunks, grandson of Miss Mae Brackeen who ran the Red Barn Pit Bar-B-Que where Wimberley Way is located next to Pitzer’s Fine Art. When Miss Mae died, Steve opened up the restaurant on FM 2325 in 1997.

“In three months it would be 20 years,” Steve said. “We were a part of everybody’s life. We shared more than barbeque…We’ve gotten an outpouring of love and support from customers, family and friends. It’s very humbling.”

Wimberley’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6441 has honored four local teachers with its 2017-18 teacher of the year awards.

The VFW Teacher of the Year award contest recognizes exceptional teachers for their outstanding commitment to teaching Americanism and patriotism to their students.  Each year, classroom elementary, junior high and high school teachers whose curriculum focuses on citizenship education topics are nominated for the award.

 Jay Myers, who teaches music and archery, is the teacher of the year for the Katherine Porter School.

 English teacher and football and soccer coach Kelly Parker won the honors for Wimberley High School.

 Stephanie Carter teaches eighth grade US History and is the teacher of the year for Danforth Junior High School.

A crowded field has emerged for some races in the Democratic and Republican March primaries, while candidates for others are running unopposed.

While the filing deadline was Monday, December 11 at 6 p.m., counties do not have to certify the list of candidates until December 19. The state of Texas does not have to certify the list until December 20. This means that additional names could be added to the ballot in the coming days. 

Will Conley, former Pct. 3 Commissioner, is unopposed in his bid for the Republican nomination for County Judge but Democrats Abel Velasquez and Ruben Becerra will face off. Velasquez formerly ran against current County Judge Bert Cobb and Becerra narrowly lost the race for mayor of San Marcos last year.

Thursday was a once-in-a-generation snowfall for the Wimberley area with at least three-inches falling throughout the valley. 

And boy was it a surprise for everyone.

“No one saw it coming,“ Raymond Schiflett, who provides the Wimberley View’s weekly weather updates, said. “It was a wonderful surprise. I didn’t see a single forecast that had the snow sticking in our area… It started snowing around 4 p.m. that afternoon, and the National Weather Service still didn’t think it was going to stick.”

And stick it did.

The last major snowfall in the area was in 1985. While Schiflett didn’t know exact totals for Wimberley that year, he said San Antonio received eight or nine inches on a single day. 

It took a perfect storm for this snowfall to occur, which is why it was so hard for weather forecasters to predict. 

The south side of the courthouse lawn was filled with people on Thursday evening as residents gathered to pay tribute to fallen San Marcos Police Officer Kenneth Copeland.

As the crowd grew, a choir sang “Amazing Grace,” and snow began to fall.

“It’s snowing. Can you believe it?” said Pastor Robin Steele of Promise-Land Church at the start of the vigil.

Steele told the crowd that the vigil was a way to give thanks for the life of Officer Copeland, but it was even more than that.

“We’re also here to make a statement,” he said. “We’re here to make a statement that we will stick together.”

San Marcos Police Chief Chase Stapp spoke to the crowd of Copeland’s kindness and selflessness.

A San Marcos Police Officer was shot and killed Monday afternoon while serving a warrant in the El Camino Real subdivision. The officer’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

He and other SMPD officers were serving a warrant in the subdivision when the suspect shot him multiple times.  The officer was wearing his protective vest and was transported to Central Texas Medical Center immediately.

A Wimberley resident with no clear anti-police sentiments is believe to have called in a fake burglary report early Friday morning, then ambushed four Hays County Sheriff’s Office vehicles that responded, wounding one deputy.
The deputies returned fire, after which the suspect, 26-year-old Rocky Miles West, was found dead. The officer, 28-year-old Benjamin Gieselman, was wounded and airlifted to an Austin hospital where he is recovering from injuries not described as life-threatening.
“Our initial impressions are that a suspect was attempting to ambush police officers,” District Attorney Wes Mau said in a press conference later Friday morning. “It’s an ongoing investigation...we’re going to wait for the results of the investigation before making a final determination.”

An Officer Involved Shooting ended with the death of a Wimberley man on the morning of Friday, November 24, according to the Hays County Sheriff’s Office.

Rocky Miles West, 28, of Wimberley, is the deceased.

The incident started when the Hays County Sheriff’s Department responded to a call of a possible break-in at Jean’s Antiques.

“Several deputies arrived in the area and while attempting to locate the male subject, someone began shooting at them, striking their patrol vehicles and wounding one of the deputies,” a press release from the Sheriff’s Office said. “The deputies fired back and the suspect retreated into a nearby wooded area.”

West was found dead in the woods near Spoke Hollow Road.

It is unclear as of 8:45 a.m. Friday whether West was killed by the officer’s shots or by a self inflicted wound.

“This is the anti Aqua Texas vote,” Wimberley City Councilmember Allison Davis said. “This is the wastewater treatment plant that is supported by the Comprehensive Plan and written into the Master Plan for (Blue Hole) park. This is closing the door on Aqua Texas.”

Mayor Mac McCullough broke a 2-2 tie vote to order the Wastewater Treatment Facility for the city-owned sewer system. The approval accepted the bid from Black Castle General Contractors from New Braunfels. The original bid was for $3,068,900.

The bid commits the city to purchasing the treatment plant, which means that the options Aqua Texas offered to treat the city’s effluent are no longer in play.

The construction manager at risk for Phase 2 of the Hays County Public Safety Bond Program will be able to submit a new Guaranteed Maximum Price, or GMP, for the work in January.

At its meeting last week, the Hays County Commissioners Court voted to allow the implementation of a third amendment to the agreement between the county and Turner Construction Company that would allow Turner to withdraw its GMP and present a new one in January.

“I reported last week that we were making progress, and I think we concluded that negotiation successfully,” said Hays County General Counsel Mark Kennedy, “meaning we’ve addressed the major points of concern that were raised.”